5/10 Aging

USB 3.2 Gen 1

USB
Max Speed
5.00 Gbps
Max Resolution
—
Power Delivery
15W
Released
2008

Formerly USB 3.0 / USB 3.1 Gen 1. Delivers 5 Gbps, a 10x jump over USB 2.0. The baseline for modern external storage.

Bandwidth
5 Gbps
Power Delivery 15W

Capabilities

Data ✓
Video ✗
Audio ✗
Power ✓
Ethernet ✗

Future-Proof Analysis

Still the most common USB 3.x tier on budget devices. Adequate for HDDs and thumb drives but bottlenecks SSDs.

Compatible Connectors

USB Micro-B SuperSpeed USB Type-A USB Type-C

Cables

Samsung DeX Cable

USB Type-C ↔ HDMI Type-A (Standard)

USB-A Extension Cable (USB 3.0)

USB Type-A ↔ USB Type-A

USB-A Hub Cable (1 to 4)

USB Type-A ↔ USB Type-A

USB-A to Micro-B SuperSpeed

USB Type-A ↔ USB Micro-B SuperSpeed

USB-A to USB-B (USB 3.0)

USB Type-A ↔ USB Type-B SuperSpeed

USB-A to USB-C (USB 3.2 Gen 1)

USB Type-A ↔ USB Type-C

USB-C OTG Cable

USB Type-C ↔ USB Type-A

USB-C to Dual HDMI Adapter Cable

USB Type-C ↔ HDMI Type-A (Standard)

USB-C to Micro-B (USB 3.0)

USB Type-C ↔ USB Micro-B SuperSpeed

USB-C to USB-B (USB 3.0)

USB Type-C ↔ USB Type-B SuperSpeed

USB-C to USB-C (USB 3.2 Gen 1)

USB Type-C ↔ USB Type-C

Speed Benchmarks

Scenario File Size Theoretical Realistic
Transfer a 1GB file 1.00 GB 1.6s 2.0s
Transfer a 2GB photo album 2.00 GB 3.2s 4.0s
Transfer a 10GB movie 10.00 GB 16.0s 20.0s
Transfer a 25GB game install 25.00 GB 40.0s 50.0s
Transfer a 50GB backup 50.00 GB 80.0s 100.0s
Transfer a 100GB project 100.00 GB 160.0s 200.0s
Transfer a 250GB backup archive 250.00 GB 400.0s 500.0s
Transfer a 500GB drive clone 500.00 GB 800.0s 1000.0s
Transfer a 1TB drive image 1000.00 GB 1600.0s 2000.0s